Watermelon...

...a favorite summer time treat!



Noah's first haircut!

Saturday was a day of haircuts!  The entire fam got haircuts...yes that includes my sweet baby Noey!  I'm not so sure that I prepared myself enough for this event.  Since I had a really busy week I didn't give it much thought and before I knew it we were loaded up in the car, headed to the barber shop.  I can remember G's first haircut and although it was a huge deal he desperately needed it and looked so stinkin' cute afterwards that it wasn't super emotional.  Noah needed a haircut for different reasons; his hair has just grown in odd ways.  It was super long in some places, bald in others and stringy up front so we almost had to do it just to get it to start growing in somewhat of a normal way.  I thought there may be lots of screaming and crying but Noah did a great job sitting in the chair!  I also brought along a sucker as a distraction but gave it to him as a "treat" rather than a distraction so he also enjoyed his first sucker...big day!  I will admit that I didn't love it immediately but it has started to grow on me.  He will always look precious but it was somewhat shocking at first especially because he looks more like a little boy than a baby!  As the days go on it isn't so emotional and I allow myself to love it more and more! 

Before...

 

... AFTER!

Does it get any more precious than that!?!

 All three of my handsome boys looking fly!

Summerblast!

This past week was an amazing week for me!  I had the pleasure of being a camp counselor to ten precious 2nd grade girls.  I don't even know where to start with all the amazing things God did this week!  I have lots of pics so I'll just sum the week up and then let you see the fun for yourself!  The one thing that stands out most in my mind are the nine kids that accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior!  On Monday, my friend Tracey had one of her 3rd grade boys share his news with me and it was the sweetest way to start off the week.   After hearing him share the great reminder of our need for Jesus I came home and fell to my knees in gratitude to the Lord for His goodness.  On Tuesday a sweet 2nd grade girl accepted Christ and we were able to celebrate with her!  Friday was a super special day as three of the 2nd grade girls were baptized!  Throughout the week we had an awesome time of worship, bible stories, scripture memory, crafts, games, swim times, celebrated a birthday and had great conversations with campers and counselors.  I feel so blessed that God hand picked me to be a part of His plan for these campers last week.  I do want to say that the days got busy and unfortunately I didn't get individual shots of all the girls; although I share a few each girl added such a special element to my week.

Co-counselors for the week!

On Monday we won the "most spirited" during worship time and got the honor of wearing this awesome flamingo hat for the day!

Craft time!

We celebrated Parker's 7th birthday with

balloons and cupcakes!

 

The girls enjoyed the water activities in the afternoon, especially the water balloons!

 

Sweet Haley!  I loved seeing her little personality throughout the week.  I don't think I ever heard her complain...that's HUGE!  It was so fun to hear her talk about her family, it was very clear how much she loves them.  She always made me smile!

It was so fun to see the girls do this because it was something I did as a little girl.  They even sang one of the songs I used to sing too!  

Martha!  This little girl was so stinkin' cute!  Every word that came out of her mouth

was awesome!

Maddie!  Love this little girl and her awesome fam!  She was a part of the other group of 2nd grade girls but because we camped next to them we got to share lots of fun times.

Watermelon!

 Madeline and me before her baptism...

what a special day!

 

Baptism was on Friday and sharing this very sweet day with these three girls

was a huge honor.

Maddie!

 Madeline!

 Avery! 

 Emily's group of 1st grade girls won "most spirited" on Friday! 

How cute is she in the flamingo hat?!

Spending the week with this girl was

icing on the cake! 

 This is what camp week does to my boys! 

Happy 6th birthday William!

William invited us to celebrate his 6th birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese!  It was a great morning of friends, lots of tokens, games, pizza, the big mouse, and delicious cake! 

 G enjoying the ride!

 Kate and Matthew!

Cami Jo!

Scout! 

 Noah!

 Emily Claire and Eric!

 William and G winning lots of tickets!

 William and Chuck E.

Thanks for sharing your special day with us, William!



Eric puts the dad in Father's Day!

Eric makes it so easy to celebrate Father's Day!  He is such a wonderful dad and I feel blessed to be in the journey of parenthood with him.  I think the boys would say the same about him being a wonderful dad and both absolutely adore him.  G and Eric have always been best buds but Noah has really become attached to him over the last couple of weeks.  It's always a celebration when Daddy walks through the door in the evenings!

For Father's Day this year we gave Eric a bucket full of baseball goodies:  peanuts, sunflower seeds, Big League chewing gum and tickets to the Fort Worth Cats game!  We love baseball so it will be a fun time for us as a family.

A little bit of everything!

On Tuesday we did a little bit of everything!  I had a few things around the house that I needed to catch up on so we spent our morning at home doing just that.  Of course we also spent a great bit of time outside too!  I love that the boys enjoy being outside so much.  Especially Noah, as soon as you reach for the door knob he starts flapping his arms and kicking his legs.  So cute! 

This says it all!

 Cruisin' with big bro! 

 (My mind can't help but to think what this same scene will look like 10 years from now...

in a real ride!)

 That was cool!

After lunch we made our first summer trip to the library!  I think Noah pulled a hundred books off the shelves as I browsed for the perfect book to read to G!  Gabriel always enjoys going to the library and it's crazy to think that he is able to read a good bit of the books we bring home.



We ended our day at Stampede!  Stampede is an event for 6th thru 9th graders at our church.  It was AWESOME!  We enjoyed everything about it and it was super cool to see God at work.  The theme is FAME but I've heard all the leaders say that their hope is for GOD to be the famous one...in all of our lives!  I am always so encouraged by the hearts of our student ministry leaders. 

Popsicle time at Stampede!

Monday with the Lamberts!

On Monday we were able to go swimming with the Lambert family, some friends that we've known for a while and haven't spent time with in a really long time.  It was so great to catch up and see how big the kiddos have gotten!  This is a family that we met in G's first preschool when our boys were about a year old.  We have continued a great friendship even after the boys started attending different schools. 

Adrianna loved spending time with Noah!

Swim time!

 Dinner time!

 Noah enjoying a Cheeto!

School celebration!

To celebate with G's school friends he took lemonade and super hero popsicles to class today!  That will definitely brighten the afternoon!

G and a few classmates!

 G and his sweet summer teachers! 

Me and my BIG boy!

I can't help but to share what this kid has done in our lives over the last six years; he is truly such a joy!  His sweet smile, servants heart and contagious excitment for just about everything is so encouraging.  He makes us laugh all the time!  He desires to know the Lord and is learning what it means to have a relationship with Him and we are confident that God has big plans for our sweet Gabriel.  I am so thankful that God chose me to be his mommy!

Gabriel's 6th birthday!

Gabriel turned six years old on Sunday, June 12th...and what an exciting day it was!  We started the day off at church where lots of friends wished him a happy birthday.  So sweet!  Then we headed over to Poppy's house to celebrate with lunch and cake.  Poppy's birthday is the 16th so it has become a tradition for them to blow out the candles together. 

I love that Gabriel has such an amazing relationship with his Poppy!  They really just have the best time together.  Poppy is a pretty special person in our lives.  He loves our family so well.  This year Poppy turns 70 and I seriously don't think the man has aged a day since I met him 11 years ago. 

G thought this was HILARIOUS!

Two very special fellas!

 Gabriel has decided that we need a silly pose after every pic!

We had the yummiest lunch ever and I had to stop at a certain point so that I didn't make a fool of myself! 

Excited to celebate our six year old!

 Apparently my thought for a silly pose is a little different than the boys!